Move Over Bitcoin, Vitalik Buterin Is Making the Case for Ethereum as a Store of Value: ‘Stability Will Be Highly Valued’

Vitalik Buterin argued on Sunday that Ethereum (CRYPTO: ETH) should prioritize its store-of-value role over fee-burning narratives.

Move On From Fee Burns, Urges Buterin

In an X post, Buterin said the fee-burning mechanism remains useful, but Ethereum supporters should “feel sad” if fee burns stay below 10% of the network’s breakeven level indefinitely.

Ethereum introduced its fee-burning mechanism through EIP-1559 in 2021. Under this mechanism, a portion of every transaction fee is permanently destroyed rather than being paid entirely to validators.

Over the years, fee burns contribute to token-supply deflation in blockchains.

Buterin argued that most EIP-1559 burns came from activity within the Ethereum ecosystem, rather than relying on external revenue. So, if ETH’s price fell, that activity—and therefore the burn—would likely fall too, he added.

Expanding on why I believe “ETH as store of value (SoV)” makes much more sense to focus on than “ETH as fee-burning token”.

Three primary reasons:

1. ETH as fee-burning token never was as strong as it seemed
2. Optimizing for ETH as fee-burning token would demand Ethereum and…

— vitalik.eth (@VitalikButerin) November 8, 2026

The daily amount of ETH burnt has steadily reduced since 2025, according to data from Etherscan.

Fee Burns Compromise Decentralization Ethos

Buterin said optimizing ETH’s valuation through fee burning to support a $255 billion market capitalization would force Ethereum to operate like a major corporation such as L’Oreal.

It would require substantial in-protocol funding for research and development, along with “highly interventionist governance” to pursue new technologies and markets.

“Needless to say, both of these are far from conducive to optimizing capture resistance and decentralization,” he added.

‘Stability Will Be Highly Valued’

Buterin said Ethereum’s value comes from decentralization and what he described as “CROPS”: censorship and capture resistance, open source, privacy and security.

He identified “stability” as the main practical benefit of those properties, particularly for people holding assets, with a strong emphasis on the store-of-value use case.

“And in the era of AI disruption, stability will be highly valued,” the cryptocurrency founder stated.

For a long time, Bitcoin (CRYPTO: BTC) enthusiasts have emphasized its role as a store of value, often drawing parallels to gold.

Price Action: As of this writing, ETH is down 5.40% in the last 24 hours to $2,091.21, according to Benzinga Pro. 

Disclaimer: This content was partially produced with the help of AI tools and was reviewed and published by Benzinga editors.

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